Confessor
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Post by Confessor on May 2, 2024 9:30:03 GMT -5
Huh. Well...that's...that's something. I don't even begin to understand what's going on there. This made me chuckle. It's pretty far from your usual musical wheelhouse, I guess. To be fair, it's quite an odd record even by Björk's standards. |
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Confessor
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Post by Confessor on May 2, 2024 9:24:02 GMT -5
More catching up with my favourite albums of 2004... #8 - Medúlla by BjörkI could see myself taking a chance on this. I've often thought of trying something by Björk but have never gotten round to it, mostly out of sheer laziness. I would caution against Medúlla as your first Björk album. It's not a particularly easy listen compared to some of her other stuff. It's got some good stuff on it, for sure, and the voices only nature of the album is certainly very interesting, but it's not that immediate. I'd say you'd be much better starting off with her first solo album Debut (1993), or it's follow-up Post (1995), or my personal favourite Homogenic (1997). Those are much easier introductions to Björk's music for the neophyte. |
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Confessor
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Post by Confessor on May 2, 2024 4:09:30 GMT -5
More catching up with my favourite albums of 2004... #8 - Medúlla by Björk Medúlla is a bit of a departure for Icelandic songstress Björk insofar as the songs eschew her usual electronica backing in favour of a record consisting almost entirely of human voices. To create the backing tracks against which her lead vocals sit, she enlisted the help of two classical choirs – one Icelandic and one British – who were joined by an Inuit throat singer, former member of Soft Machine, Robert Wyatt, and Faith No More vocalist, Mike Patton. The result is a tranquil and experimental record that is heavy on mood and atmosphere, but perhaps a bit light on memorable songs. One song that is quite catchy and memorable though is the single "Who Is It?", but other than that, the album seems to go out of its way to be a complex and challenging listen. Still, the sheer breadth of influences on Medúlla is staggering – from chamber music to hip-hop, with lashings of beatboxing. Stand out tracks would include "Oceania", "Pleasure Is All Mine", and "Desired Constellation"; two of the songs are sung in Björk's native Icelandic ("Vökuró" and "Öll Birtan"). But honestly, picking out individual tracks is not the way to go with this record: this is an album that is more than the sum of its parts. Medúlla is far from being my favourite Björk album – the odder vocal sounds on it can be slightly irritating at times – but I do enjoy it if I'm in the right mood. Here's the song "Pleasure Is All Mine", which gives a pretty good example of what this album is like… |
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Confessor
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Post by Confessor on May 1, 2024 20:23:56 GMT -5
Pretty poor month for me -- only 11 comics read this month. I lost about two weeks when I was ill with flu and didn't feeling like reading anything though. Hopefully I'll be able to read a good bit more in May.
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Confessor
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Post by Confessor on May 1, 2024 20:07:38 GMT -5
Condolences TP. Duane Eddy was a hugely influential artist and, really, the king of the twangy guitar. "Peter Gunn" was one of the first things I ever learned to play on guitar and it was Eddy's version that I knew from hearing it in my Dad's record collection (along with knowing Eddy's mid-80s update of the song with the Art of Noise, of course). "Rabble -Rouser", "Forty Miles of Bad Road", and "Shazam" are all great tracks too. He was one of the rock 'n' roll greats.
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Confessor
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Post by Confessor on May 1, 2024 18:10:37 GMT -5
That's because with very limited exceptions, mostly Tomb of Dracula, Wolfman isn't a very good writer. I generally enjoy his work, but I agree that he's one of those journeyman writers, rather than somebody who makes me think "wow, this is brilliant." I quite like his run on Amazing Spider-Man in the late '70s and early '80s though, although it isn't a must-read run IMHO. |
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Confessor
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Post by Confessor on May 1, 2024 15:08:16 GMT -5
#9 - Kasabian by Kasabian British band Kasabian arrived in 2004 with the UK music press heralding them as the natural heirs to the Stone Roses' crown. Needless to say, the music didn't quite back up the hype, but the band's self-titled debut is definitely the sort of thing that would appeal to fans of the Roses and Primal Scream. There's also a touch of the Prodigy's big beat bombast to these songs too, along with the odd thread of prog rock weirdness. Myself, I thought this was an enjoyable album at the time, but it's not one that I've returned to very often in the last 20 years. I'm not quite sure why that is because there are plenty of strong tracks here – "Club Foot", "Reason is Treason", "L.S.F.", "Running Battle", and "Test Transmission" are all stand outs. I guess the album is a little samey across its almost 55-minute running time, but listening to it again, as I write this, it has an endearingly shabby charm and is much better than I remember. I should listen to this more. Here's the single "Club Foot", which gives you a very good idea of Kasabian's sound…
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Confessor
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Post by Confessor on May 1, 2024 14:38:56 GMT -5
OK, a little late to the party, but here are my Top 10 albums of 2004 then. This was definitely a much less strong year for albums than 1994 was, as far as the music I liked is concerned anyway. #10 - Aha Shake Heartbreak by Kings of Leon The Kings of Leon's second album is a notable comedown from the instantly likeable Lynyrd Skynyrd-meets-the Ramones spirit of their debut. Sonically, it very much treads the same ground as its predecessor, but it lacks the great selection of songs that made their debut such an enjoyable listen. Aha Shake Heartbreak is not a bad album at all, it's just that it kinda feels like we've heard this sort of thing from the band before, but done better. Still, "Slow Night, So Long", "Velvet Snow", and "Soft" are all pleasingly energetic songs and are among the best tracks on the album. Really though, it's the lead single from the album, "The Bucket", which is by far and away the best track on the album and that's the one I've chosen to highlight in this post… |
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Confessor
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Post by Confessor on May 1, 2024 12:29:38 GMT -5
Oh, man....Tunnock's caramels. One of the finest foods known to humanity. |
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Confessor
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Post by Confessor on May 1, 2024 12:26:13 GMT -5
#10 – Slaid Cleaves – Wishbones Never heard of Slaid Cleaves. These two tracks are pleasant enough though. This sounds folkier than a lot of the music you pick in these yearly reviews. Nice fiddle on "Quick as Dreams" too. Favorite albums of 2004 #9 – Junior Brown – Down Home Chrome
Again, I can't say I've ever heard of Junior Brown. I kinda wanted to like this -- it sounds like good ol' country and rock 'n' roll bar music -- but there is so much lapsteel/guitar wankery in that first track "Hill Country Hot Rod Man", that it totally turned me off of what is otherwise a pretty solid track. "Little Rivi-Airhead" is better, but in all honesty it didn't do much for me. Favorite albums of 2004 #8 – Raul Malo – Nashville Acoustic Sessions
Ah, OK...so this guy is from the Mavericks? Yeah, I can kind of hear that. I really like the laid-back, peaceful vibe of "Blue Bayou" -- I don't know the original, but you can absolutely hear that this is a Roy Orbison song. It's a nice track...love the dobro on it. "Bright Side of the Road" is a fairly nice and straight ahead cover too. I might have to listen to more of this album. |
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Confessor
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Post by Confessor on May 1, 2024 12:03:09 GMT -5
Oops! Forgot this one... R.E.M. are one of my Top 5 favourite bands bands/artist of all time. I bought this album the day it was released. …and I really hated it! I had been slightly disappointed by the "What's the Frequency, Kenneth?" single when it appeared a few weeks prior to this album, but I still had high hopes that Monster would be another musical triumph for the band. When I heard it, I found it bafflingly uninspired; a collection of 12 samey, cod-rock songs, swathed in a distorted guitar sludge. The lyrics too seemed a far cry from Michael Stipe's usual poetic and inventively non-linear style. Frankly, I though this album was a bit of a turd upon release. But time has definitely been kind to Monster and I have definitely reevaluated it in the ensuing years. These days I can enjoy the album on its own merits. I still don't think it's anywhere near the high standards of the band's previous seven albums, from Murmur to Automatic for the People, but it's an interesting sonic experiment. It almost sounds like a garage rock record, with most of the songs being about sex and with those cheap and dirty guitar sounds. I kinda dig the idea of the biggest band in the world at that point putting out such a rough and dirty record as this. Still, Monster was the beginning of the band's artistic and commercial decline. While subsequent R.E.M. albums all had moments of brilliance, never again would they release an "all killer, no filler" album like "Out of Time" or "Lifes Rich Pageant". After Monster, it was all downhill for R.E.M. |
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Confessor
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Post by Confessor on May 1, 2024 11:41:59 GMT -5
Catching up with some posts and comments that I've missed... 1994.3 Hit the Highway - ProclaimersI love the Proclaimers. Over here in the UK they are all too often reduced to a sort of "novelty party band" because of their song "I'm Gonna Be (500 Miles)", which is one of those brilliant pop songs that has unfortunately been co-opted by the ignorant, lager-swilling, football crowd, as an anthem to bellow out at pub closing time. A hateful fate for such a great song. I was lucky enough to see these guys early on in a small venue in my hometown in about 1986, prior to the release of their debut album This Is the Story. I've always loved them, but kind of only know that first album and the excellent follow-up, Sunshine on Leith. They were always somewhat akin to the Housemartins in my mind, because both bands came to prominence at the same time, both mixed left-wing politics with Christianity in their songs, and both had a vaguely indie-folk style (though the Housemartins were a bit rockier). I've never heard this particular album, but I know the single "Let's Get Married". 1994.2 No Need to Argue - CranberriesThe Cranberries were big over here in Britian, but I wouldn't say they were huge. I know the singles from this album, of course, like "Zombie", "Ode to My Family", and "I Can't Be with You", but I always found them a bit "Marmite". Dolores O'Riordan obviously had a lovely Celtic-style voice, but for me it always sounded rather one-dimensional and was afflicted by that annoying vocal tic (I believe it's called keening) where she quickly goes up at the end of a line (you know, like that "eh-oh, eh-oh, eh-oh" thing). That gets right on my t*ts after a while. I realise I'm in a minority there though. My 13-year-old niece has recently gotten massively into the Cranberries, so I've been listening to this album and its predecessor more lately than I would otherwise have done. I don't dislike the band at all, but yeah...I could not listen to a whole album of O'Riordan's voice. 1994.1 Teenager of the Year - Frank BlackI'm not much of a fan of the Pixies really. I mean, I quite like "Monkey Gone to Heaven", but only in an off-hand sort of way. As a result, I've never listened to any of Frank Black's solo stuff. |
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Confessor
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Post by Confessor on May 1, 2024 11:07:45 GMT -5
Loving the examples of self-binging in this thread. Those are some beautiful looking volumes, folks.
I've always kind of liked the idea of binding comics together like this, but have never had it done. A friend of mine did with a few series -- he has a very handsome digest-sized hardcover of mini black & white reprints of Will Eisner's Spirit sections that were reprinted in the '70s: that's a really nice volume.
Here's some CCF trivia: I'm actually a fully qualified book binder. I studied it when I did my printing apprenticeship straight out of school. I haven't bound anything for, like, 25 years or so, but yeah...I still have my bookbinding vocational qualification certificate.
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Confessor
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Post by Confessor on May 1, 2024 11:00:06 GMT -5
I actually agree 100% with all your points as to why this should be the last Jamie awards, shaxper. I think it's served its purpose and though it has definitely been enjoyable, I also agree it's time to let it go, for the reasons you outine. |
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Post by Confessor on May 1, 2024 10:51:58 GMT -5
I recently picked up issues #19, #20 and #22 of Doctor Strange from 1976 and '77, and I know that berkley was kinda interested in what I thought of them.  These comics come immediately after the Steve Englehart run, with Marv Wolfman coming on board to take over the writing. The switchover happens right in the middle of a Bicentennial-themed "Occult Tour of the History of America" that Strange and Clea had embarked on in issue #17. These comics really feel like an abrupt change of pace. For a kick off, the dialogue and plotting is immediately less philosophical than Englehart's stuff and much more in the tradition of regular super-heroing – Strange even socks the villain of the piece, Xander, in the mouth at one point! Wolfman is also set on reverting all the changes to the character and his continuity that Englehart wrought. So, for example, Strange is stripped of his title Sorcerer Supreme and reverts to being simply the Master of the Mystic Arts, with an attendant depowering, and the destruction and remaking of the Earth in semi-recent issues (and that weird romance between Clea and Benjamin Franklin!!) is shown to be nothing more than an illusion or test created by the evil magician Stygyro. So, in short, a lot of the major changes to the character that occurred during Englehart's run are wiped away. I'm not sure how I feel about this. These comics do feel much more like "business as usual" in terms of how a Doctor Strange comic should probably be. But Englehart's run was really interesting from a philosophical standpoint and nicely psychedelic too. But that was probably something of a narrative dead end, in terms of continuing in that direction for years. The status quo probably did need to be restored, I guess. I quite liked Rudy Nebres' art on issues #20 and #22, though it's not a patch on the Gene Colan/Tom Palmer art of Englehart's tenure on the comic. Issue #19 is drawn by Alfredo Alcala, who I know from his brief time on the Star Wars newspaper strip in 1980. His art is rather good, generally speaking, though sometimes looks a bit muddled and not terribly clear. Overall, these were pretty enjoyable Doctor Strange comics. They take the lead character back to his core characterisation and appeal, but I do kinda miss the weird and slightly more intellectual bent of the Englehart run. |
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